Various portable smoking apparatus are known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. Appln. Publ. No. 2011/0094524 (Glover) describes a smoking apparatus for vaporizing smoking products such as tobacco and herb products. The smoking apparatus is preferably made entirely out of glass and comprises a bowl at a first end that receives the smoking product through an open top end, a screen support area immediately below the bowl having one or more screen supports, a product support pellet that rests on the screen supports to support the smoking product, a hollow stem in fluid flow communication with the bowl to allow the user to draw vapor from the bowl and a diffuser removably received in the open top end of the bowl for diffusing heat across the smoking product to vaporize it. The diffuser has a diffusing element made out of the frit. It is alleged that no metal contacts the product, vapor or user. The smoking apparatus can be a pipe or an adapter for a water pipe.
U.S. Pat. Appln. Publ. No. 2012/0255546 (Goetz et al.) describes a portable vaporizer including a main body, a heating assembly coupled to the main body, a removable basket in thermal communication with the heating assembly and that allows an herb placed in the removable basket to be vaporized by the heating assembly, and an agitator device that agitates the herb placed in the removable basket to purportedly achieve a more uniform vaporization of the herb. A mouthpiece is removably attached to the main body in air flow communication with the heating assembly. An opening of the main body receives and stores the mouthpiece when the mouthpiece is not in use.
U.S. Pat. Appln. Publ. No. 2013/0152922 (Benassayag et al.) describes a portable pen-sized electric herb vaporizer with ceramic heating chamber. The vaporizer is used to vaporize active ingredient of or burn herbs, and includes a battery, a heating compartment, a chamber connector, and a mouthpiece. Two threaded screw interfaces attach the battery to the heating compartment and the heating compartment to the chamber connector. The mouthpiece holds a ceramic filter and is inserted into the chamber connector. The heating compartment has a ceramic heating chamber within which herbs are placed, and a heating coil connected to the battery within the ceramic heating chamber heats the herbs. For use, the user presses an activator button and inhales through the mouthpiece, drawing heated air over the herbs, through the chamber connector and into the user's lungs. The chamber connector has a disk filter to catch ash and a spring that presses on the herbs for efficient vaporization.
U.S. Pat. Appln. Publ. No. 2014/0041655 (Barron et al.) describes a portable vaporizer including a power module having a battery tube, a cylindrical battery within the battery tube, a control housing, connected to the battery tube, and a control board inside the control housing. When the control housing is connected to the battery tube, the control board is electrically coupled to the cylindrical battery. A vaporization chamber is connectable to the power module and includes a vaporization tank having a tube, a tank base connected to the tube, a vaporization basket inside the tube and adapted to hold vaporization materials, a heating element inside the tube, and a cylindrical space between the vaporization basket and the tube. A mouthpiece is connectable to the vaporization chamber and includes a passageway leading from the vaporization chamber to the exterior of the portable vaporizer. When the heating element is activated, the air in the cylindrical space between the basket and the tube is heated and causes the vaporization materials in the vaporization basket to vaporize.